Walden elected to leadership role for House Republicans

Wednesday

Nov 14, 2012 at 4:25 PM

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who has represented the 2nd Congressional District for 14 years, was unanimously elected today by his GOP peers in the House to chair the National Republican Congressional Committee.

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who has represented the 2nd Congressional District for 14 years, was unanimously elected today by his GOP peers in the House to chair the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Walden, 55, who has been the deputy chairman of the committee for the past four years, is now sitting in the fifth-most powerful seat in that political body.

As the committee chair, he will work closely with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other party leaders to set the House agenda.

"This new leadership position allows me to voice the concerns of Oregonians at the decision-making table in Washington, D.C.," Walden said in a prepared statement.

"Since 1986, I have owned and managed a small business in Oregon with my wife," he added. "I know what it takes to grow jobs. As NRCC chairman, I will put my experience to good use to help enact a pro-jobs, pro-growth agenda in the House."

He succeeds U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, as committee chair.

Walden will remain as chair of the House subcommittee that oversees communications and technology policy, a post he has held for nearly two years. In this role, he worked across the aisle to pass a major technology law that he said will increase access to wireless broadband in rural Oregon and create thousands of jobs in the Pacific Northwest. He will continue bipartisan work on the panel to create technology jobs and unleash innovation, he said.

Created in 1866 immediately after the Civil War, the NRCC's primary goal is to elect Republicans to the House. Across the aisle, the opposing party has the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, whose main mission is to do the same for Democrats.